Orlando, FL – Despite giving up back to back 50+ point games to the likes of Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving and Detroit’s Saddiq Bey, the Magic looked strong throughout most of this recent home-stand and would finish this current 6-game home-stand on a strong note. In what was their toughest stretch of the season they faced the Minnesota Timberwolves, Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets, Detroit Pistons, Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Golden State Warriors all within 12 days. It is safe to say they put on a show for the home fans.
The team started off strong with a win against the Minnesota Timberwolves, which simultaneously ended their 6-game winning streak at the time. Despite 20 plus point performances from the likes of Karl Anthony-Towns and Anthony Edwards, the Magic were able to counter with 20 plus point games from their two starting big men in Mo Bamba and Wendell Carter Jr., and would end with 5 players total in double-figures including Cole Anthony, Moe Wagner and Markelle Fultz. Minnesota started the game scorching hot from three point range, shooting at a 78% clip for the quarter going 7-9 overall while the Magic shot a poor 10% only going 1-10 from behind the arc. Despite that hot shooting start, the Magic stayed poised and climbed back in the second quarter to end the first half only down five with a score of 65-60. The Magic started the second half on a mission ignited by Cole Anthony and would get a spark off the bench from Mo Wagner who ended with 18 pts in only 13 mins. This also marked only the 5th game since the return of Markelle Fultz and he poured in 14 points, 7 assists, and 3 rebounds in only 18 minutes of play, showing the flashes that made him the No. 1 overall pick back in 2017. The Magic would wind up going on a 10-0 run to end the 3rd, giving them a 4-point lead going into the 4th quarter. Both teams would start off the 4th slow before the Magic would begin to pull away around the 9-minute mark and would never lose the lead.
Next up was Philadelphia and the Magic really came into this game on a high after their victory against Minnesota. They would begin the game on fire from the field and would end the half with a 12-point lead, led by Wendell Carter Jr.’s 16 points and 6 rebounds. Led by the trio of Joel Embiid, James Harden and Tobias Harris, the 76ers would cut the lead down to 6 after the 3rd and would take the lead in the 4th. Despite losing the lead the Magic stayed resilient and would wind up tying the game late in the 4th behind 2 clutch free throws by Cole Anthony in the final seconds to send the game into overtime. In the overtime period the Magic kept it close, trading buckets back and forth with a flurry of 3’s from Cole but ultimately would fall short 116-114.
Tuesday night Brooklyn came into town and in case you have not heard, history was made. Kyrie Irving made history by scoring a career-high 60 points on only 31 shots, shooting a blistering 65% from the field. Not only was that a career-high for Kyrie, but it was the most points ever allowed at the Amway Center. He would come out on a mission scoring 41 in the first half alone. The Magic were down big after the first quarter, allowing Brooklyn to go for nearly 50 points and would wind up being down 18. The team did their best to cut into the lead but could not get their shots to fall, however ultimately Kyrie was just impossible to defend. Uncle Drew was in his bag in Orlando. When asked by Dan Savage of OrlandoMagic.com what he saw from the defensive unit on that end of the floor?” Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley simply responded with “Kyrie Irving.” When asked about how to keep engaged and motivated during a blowout loss, Coach Mosley responded to me saying “ Just understanding we’re not going to quit, you can’t give into what Kyrie was doing you can’t give into the scoreboard, you have to continue to play no matter what’s happening.” Great words of motivation from coach!
Thursday night Detroit came into town, and while it was initially a hotly anticipated matchup by fans, things change when Cade Cunningham was ruled out due to injury. With Cade out however, it should have been a competitive game and even a win. Unfortunately for the Magic though, Wendell Carter Jr. and Chuma Okeke were ruled out with injury and due to already being shorthanded could do nothing to stop Detroit’s Saddiq Bey from scoring 51 points on only 27 shots shooting 63% from the field and 71% from 3-point range.
Sunday night the Thunder came into town and the team definitely bounced back after losing to Detroit in the previous outing behind a career high 30 points for Wendell Carter Jr. to go along with 16 rebounds. After starting strong in the first quarter, the Thunder would close the gap in the 2nd and 3rd quarters respectively before the Magic would go on an 18-12 run in the final 7:53 of the 4th quarter to end the game with a 90-85 victory. This was referred to as a “tank game” by both fanbases with the Thunder sitting multiple players including Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Despite this victory the Magic would remain in the top 3 for lottery odds due to Detroit winning as well.
On the final night of this 6-game home-stand the Magic were faced with yet another tough test in the Golden State Warriors. Although Curry was sidelined for the game and will be for at least 2 weeks due to a foot injury, the Amway Center was packed anticipating this matchup. While it was a bummer the fans didn’t get the chance to see Curry perform, it was great to see the team compete from tip-off and punk the Warriors in what was a massive upset victory for the Magic. From the opening tip the Warriors struggled to gain any momentum despite still having Klay Thompson and Draymond Green in the lineup and would be down 25-17. After a strong 1st quarter defensively for the Magic, they would finish the half up by 8. The Warriors seemed to be reminded of who they were behind an explosion by Jordan Poole, leading them to finish the 3rd quarter outscoring the Magic 36-19. This momentum however would not last as they would come out flat to start to the 4th and could never quite get back in their groove, getting outscored in the quarter 29-16 that would end with some clutch free throws from Franz Wagner and a late corner three from Mo Bamba to finish with a final score of 94-90.
This win put an exclamation on what was a pretty impressive stretch of games played overall by the team going 3-3 in those 6 games. In those three victories they played some impressive defense and took care of the ball which allowed them to keep the game close and eventually take a late lead to win the game. What these victories proved is that when the team is engaged they are a force to be reckoned with on defense; they even have the best defensive rating of any team since the All-Star break. The most exciting part of this home-stand was seeing the energy starting to be brought back into the Amway Center, something that has severely lacked in recent memory. With five more home games left in the regular season, let’s hope the team and the fans continue to bring this much needed energy and excitement home to the Magic Kingdom.